Gears and Growing Up
The stories collected here are defined by their open-ended nature. They are unfinished tales, incomplete narrative fragments that capture the texture of a moment rather than the entirety of a plot. Whether it is a quiet conversation or the turning of a gear, these scenes rely on the reader’s imagination to supply the momentum and meaning that extends beyond the page.
This project represents an experimental program situated at the intersection of human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research. It serves as an exploration of how digital tools can act as a partner in the writing process. The objective is to shape new forms of storytelling and scriptwriting while enhancing digital literacy skills and workflows for authors.
Today’s selection ranges from the retro-futuristic aesthetics of Steampunk to the grounded emotional arcs of Coming-of-Age and Slice of Life dramas. The contrast between mechanical fantasy and human growth forms the core of this post. Jamie F. Bell and Leaf Richards provide the authorship for these varied glimpses into alternative lives.
We invite you to inspect the machinery of these stories. Read the fragments and become a co-creator, imagining the steam-powered world surrounding these characters or the adult lives that await them after their coming-of-age moments.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Highlighting the intricate styles of Epistolary, Minimalist, and Stream of Consciousness writing, this post weaves together Steampunk aesthetics with Coming-of-Age and Slice of Life narratives. By investigating the potential of creative technology in modern publishing, we analyze how AI-assisted narrative shapes Crime Noir and Contemporary Drama. Our goal is to foster digital literacy through innovative short stories that challenge traditional forms and embrace the future of literary expression.
The Glacial Grin
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Contemporary Fiction | Genre: Coming-of-Age
A biting winter wind scoured the city, whipping around the grey towers of glass and steel. Snow, already old and gritty, clung to the corners of buildings and lay in crusty drifts along the sidewalks, reflecting a pale, indifferent light. Inside, the sterile hum of an office building offered little warmth, only the cold promise of another monotonous day.
A Season of Dissolution
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Epistolary | Genre: Slice of Life
The river, swollen with recent melt, dragged its grey-green body through the forest’s throat. Overhead, the nascent canopy, a tender, almost violent green, shivered with a wind that carried the metallic tang of damp earth and something else, something less definable – a slow, unsettling hum beneath the usual spring din. Each new leaf felt too eager, too perfectly formed, a little plastic in its sheen. The air itself seemed to vibrate with an unseen pressure.
The Scrutiny of Unflinching Light
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Crime Noir | Genre: Contemporary Drama
The old warehouse, now a hollowed-out bastion of the collective, shivered against the relentless autumn wind. Inside, the air hung heavy with the scent of turpentine and damp plaster, a constant reminder of both their creative ambition and their crumbling reality.
Asphalt’s Fever
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Minimalist | Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The morning sun, already a hammer blow against the downtown core, baked the street where the incident had occurred. A faint, metallic tang still hung in the heavy air, a phantom limb of violence the cleaning crews couldn’t quite scour away. Even the pigeons, usually bold and indifferent, seemed to give the patch of pavement a wide berth, their cooing muted.
The Regulator
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Steampunk
A chaotic, stream-of-consciousness journey through a steampunk version of downtown Winnipeg during a -40 degree deep freeze, focusing on the mechanical failures and small human victories of the everyday commute.
About the Project
By design, these stories have no beginning and no end. Many stories are fictional, but many others are not. They are snapshots from worlds that never fully exist, inviting you to imagine what comes before and what happens next. We had fun exploring this project, and hope you will too.
The Unfinished Tales and Short Stories collection is part of an experimental, creative arts and research program by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. Each chapter is an interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment focused on two key areas: AI-Assisted Scriptwriting, where researchers explore using AI to generate story ideas, plot structures, and alternative story arcs to enhance creative development; and Talent Development and Training, where the project studies the necessary skills for creative professionals to manage AI and immersive technologies in production, helping to inform future training curricula. The project was made possible with funding and support from the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program and the Government of Ontario. We thank them for supporting the arts, digital transformation research and innovation in Ontario.
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